Murder on Air Temple Island
by aleexmariee
Summary: When the body of an Air Acolyte is found, engraved with a personal threat against Tenzin's family, the rush is on to discover who the new enemy is. It's inevitable that the old attraction is rekindled as Lin and Tenzin are forced into working together, but can they overcome their history, choices, and Tenzin's commitments and be happy together? Can they even survive? (T for now.)
1. Chapter 1

_Hi everyone, new story from me. This is a murder mystery/romance between Lin and Tenzin, set a few weeks after the events of Season 1. I'll probably change the rating to M later on, but if people would like me to mark out when the Mature scenes are in later chapters, just drop me a review or a private message so I know before it gets to that point._

 _So, I'm really enjoying this idea and I hope it's enjoyable too. Lin and Tenzin are by far my favourite pairing and I hope I can do them justice!_

 _The first chapter is pretty short, but the rest will definitely be much longer; probably around triple the size. So don't let the length put you off!_

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Murder on Air Temple Island

 _Chapter One:_

The slabs were a deep red, brown in some places, where they'd always been a scrubbed white. Lin had seen many a dead body, but this one made her especially sick to the stomach. Her face was a professional mask of indifference, but the entire scene sat very wrong with her.

Lin had seen a lot of things, but this wasn't just a murder.

He was an air acolyte, barely a man, and one Lin recognised, even though her time on the island was particularly limited. No doubt Tenzin knew all the details of his life; he was good with people like that. He took a genuine interest in everyone who came to learn his discipline.

Lin had only looked at Tenzin once since appearing on the scene, and his gaze had been unwavering; staring at the young boy as if it could bring him back. He was too distracted even to notice his children watching the scene in their own horror.

Jinora had been more alert, shielding Ikki and Meelo's eyes and dragging them back inside. Pema had looked tempted to join them, but remained curled into Tenzin's side.

Lin tried to ignore the familiar family and stick to doing her job. She bent down, getting closer to the man's open throat. "Earth bender," she informed Tenzin, who was stood with an arm wrapped around his wife's shoulders. He'd already know this, but following a routine worked best in these situations. She shifted her feet and summoned a disk with jagged teeth, moving it over to the body in a slicing motion. "Like this."

Tenzin nodded, his own face stony. He'd been the one to ring her, saying nothing more than that there'd been a murder. This wasn't what she'd been expecting at all.

Murders were gang-related, the majority of the time, but Lin knew the gangs of republic city inside and out and this wasn't their work.

Because the gruesome cause of death wasn't even the worst part. There were letters scratched into the man's chest, in a jagged handwriting. They'd been done with earth bending, too, and Lin didn't want to know what kind of person had the composure for this.

The man had been alive when he'd been branded, and killed afterwards.

 **This whole island will die.**

Lin swallowed and for the second time met Tenzin's gaze, just as hesitantly. Lin didn't want to accept that he was in direct danger, but the evidence was right there in front of her. "You can't stay on the Island." The routine kicked in once more; the police had suggestions for this kind of situation, even if they were rarely used. This one was common sense: he was in danger, his wife was in danger and his children were in danger.

He shook his head once. "This is my home and I won't be scared off it. The air acolytes can leave, should leave, but I will stay. I can protect my family."

Lin narrowed her eyes, teeth already grinding. "You cannot stay on this island, Tenzin."

Lin didn't know who would want to hurt Tenzin – he was widely respected, always fair, he had a good nature. The only enemies he'd made were the council members that disagreed with him, but that had only ever been mild dislike.

This was going to be a difficult case and a personal case.

Tenzin and his wife shared a determined look and Lin knew she had lost. She threw her hands up, scowl becoming ever more prominent. _She_ was the chief of police, not them, and she knew what she was talking about. Tenzin was being an idiot and he was putting his family in danger.

"Whatever, it's your choice. Just know I'm strongly advising against it." And she wasn't going to attempt to make conversation with him again. She'd do her job, and that was all, trying desperately to ignore the worry that would flood her every night.

Lin couldn't tell Tenzin what to do anymore, even in a professional capacity. He wouldn't listen to her.

She just wanted to do her job and stay out of the personal side of things. Getting caught up in emotions was never the right thing when it came to police work and if there'd been anyone else, she would have re-assigned the case.

At least, that's what Lin told herself, as if she could abandon a case where Tenzin was in mortal danger.

She bent down by the side of the body and gestured for the photographer to come forwards. "I want you to get this from every angle, especially the writing," Lin avoided touching before the photos had been taken. Her skin crawled, but her face remained composed.

 _It's nothing I haven't seen before_ , was her mantra, even as thoughts of Tenzin lying in this man's place addled her brain.

This was Lin's job and she was good at it, but if she failed to protect Tenzin then she'd never forgive herself.

Lin couldn't be bothered to sit and watch Tenzin be stubborn; it was more that than having to observe the intimate way he and his wife were communicating, she told herself.

The best thing she could do was go and try and find this maniac.


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter Two_

The air was stuffy and damp. Lin coughed for the thousandth time, before realising she'd ran out of water. A day in the archives was never entertaining, but today had been especially bad. She'd come up with absolutely nothing.

Zilch.

Everyone else had gone home by now, so at least the room was cooling down, but tiredness was beginning to take hold. Eyes were drooping and her mind was wandering. She wasn't even sure what she was looking for anymore, just dragging her eyes over words and barely reading them.

There was unlikely to be anything relevant in this book written three-hundred years ago, or the scrolls detailing bending movements, but Lin had to try. So far they were without any leads and her frustration was growing.

Someone would die again, and soon, if they didn't make any progress.

And there was a chance it would be Tenzin.

Lin slammed shut the tome and coughed once more from the dust in her face; a harsh hacking sound that gave away just how long she'd already spent in the basement room. This book was a big waste of time and the language was hard going. Some scrolls would be better for this time of night.

"Oh," Tenzin cleared his throat when opening the door revealed Lin still hunched over the table. "I didn't realise you'd be here, I'm sorry."

Tenzin had been absent all day, choosing to start preparing his own defences on the island rather than giving up his home to actually help find some answers and protect his family. He'd requested a few police officers and Lin had been forced to oblige. As much as his response had irritated her, she really didn't want him to get hurt.

"You can help. God knows I need it. I've come up with nothing so far." Lin kicked the chair beside her. "I'd recommend something that isn't horribly boring at this hour."

Tenzin nodded once, grabbing a book and sitting down.

"We've already looked at that one," Lin muttered, running her finger against the old scroll. They were familiar movements, ones her own mother had taught her. "Start at the top of the third bookshelf."

Tenzin t'ched, standing back up and going where Lin had suggested. "You could have just told me that when I'd first come in."

The corner of Lin's mouth twitched. Some things never got old. "I suppose I could."

It should have been a comfortable silence, just two people lost in trying to solve a problem that would save people's lives. That wasn't the case, at least for Lin. She hadn't spoken to Tenzin since her bending had been restored in the South Pole and Lin almost felt embarrassed that she'd lived through what she'd done. Of course Tenzin knew she cared, even if she did her best not to show it, but Lin hadn't intended to really show it that clearly.

As always, Tenzin had occupied her thoughts, but Lin was used to it by now. There hadn't been a day since they'd met that she hadn't thought about him.

"How are the preparations on the island?" Lin couldn't concentrate anymore on the reading, it had been a solid ten hours of fruitless labour. "I trust my officers were of use."

Tenzin nodded, almost absentmindedly. His head was in the book and he no doubt had no time for Lin's poor attempt at conversation. "They were helpful, thank you. I appreciate your support."

Support was pushing it. Lin still thought he was being a moron and Tenzin knew that. He should have also known to trust her on something like this.

They went back to their reading, dull frowns on both faces. "Do you really not have any idea who might want to hurt you? Your family? There must be something."

Tenzin massaged his brow. There wasn't a single thing he'd thought of, and it wasn't that he hadn't racked his brains. "The equalists are dead and they're the only enemies I've ever had. It must be something against airbenders. That's the only explanation."

It was the conclusion she'd found, too, but the only known air bender hating group was based in the fire nation and they'd been underground for nearly thirty years now.

Lin was working off nothing and it made the entire thing even more stressful.

"That's what I figured, too. I've found nothing, by the way. None of us have and we've been at it all day. This whole thing is bizarre."

Tenzin leant backwards and the bags under his eyes were obvious. No doubt he hadn't slept a wink last night – Lin knew she hadn't. "Well, I hope we can figure it out soon."

Tenzin wasn't the kind of person to admit that he was scared – neither of them were – but it was understood both people in the room were terrified. "We will do."

Lin felt inherently awkward, when there was no reason she should have done. They'd established a friendship, or at least an amnesty, and they'd kept it perfectly amicable. Lin just felt odd around him and she hoped one day it would go away. In a situation this tense, their previous relationship shouldn't even be anywhere near the front of her mind.

They could be friends, as they had once been, eventually.

Or they could just be nothing, once this mess was over. If they even survived.

Lin went back to her pile of scrolls, narrowing her eyes. These were manoeuvres she wasn't familiar with and Lin had spent much of her teenage years reading scrolls like these and then explaining the movements to her mother.

They weren't fighting movement, exactly, but scrolls for an ancient tattooing ritual from the tribes before Ba Sing Se's wall had been built.

The style of the writing, whilst not identical, was similar enough to the text on the air acolyte's body to give Lin pause. "Here, look at this."

Tenzin leant over and Lin was given a whiff of the familiar cologne. It was one she'd bought him, as an anniversary present, and he apparently continued to buy it now. She blinked once, but otherwise ignored the familiar smell and pointed at the scroll. "Look similar?"

Tenzin was even closer as he studied the scroll himself, defined brow narrowing. "It does look similar."

Lin pulled away, grateful for an excuse as she grabbed the newly developed photos. Side-by-side, they looked ever more alike than Lin had thought. "We need to find everything we can related to this scroll."

It was almost an excitement that coloured the air. Breakthroughs were one of the things that kept Lin's jobs lively; one of the reasons she'd never gotten bored, but when it was someone too close to home it was less of an impact.

Until this case was solved, Lin doubted she'd recover much sleep over a minor breakthrough.

Still, the relief was evident and she scoured bookshelves for anything relating to the olden days of Ba Sing Se.

Their resources were limited: books had been burned and lost, or stored in places unavailable to Lin at the present time. Anything from that long ago was normally damaged, too, and incredibly difficult to decipher. They were lucky the language hadn't changed significantly in the past few centuries.

Lin managed to pull two relevant books from the shelves.

One each, she supposed.

Lin explained what the scroll had told her whilst they started on their respective tomes. "Not a lot of information, but at least we've got a location and a time period to be going at."

"It was a good find."

Their conversation tapered once more and Lin's awkwardness reigned supreme. She hated it, above all. One time, it would have been impossible even to consider an uncomfortable silence falling between the pair, but now even being in the same room was painful in one way or another.

Even if they could manage politeness, Lin was left either feeling lonely or angry and neither represented a good working relationship. It was worse knowing that Tenzin was completely unaffected. Lin was the chief of police, helping him out with something tragic; an old friend, perhaps. She was the only one who felt any grief at the situation.

"Why are you insisting on staying on that stupid island?" Lin already knew the reason. It was all about protecting his father's legacy, about his pride as an airbender, but she needed to get it through his thick skull that his safety was more important than that. "You'll get killed."

Tenzin huffed. He didn't want to have this conversation with her, but Lin was far more stubborn than him and so it was inevitable. She was going to push this until they'd properly fallen out and Tenzin would have much rather just stuck his head in the book and tried to solve the problem. He wouldn't have even come to the station if he thought Lin would still be here, but as soon as he'd laid eyes on her he realised he was a fool to think she'd have gone home on time without any progress.

Unwanted feelings were stirred whenever he faced Lin in a battle of wills.

"It is my home and I can protect it. I won't give in to threats. I won't let them think they've won." He said it with an empty tone that only riled Lin further.

He was so utterly indifferent towards her and it stung.

"So you're going to risk your children's lives because of your pride?" She stared him down, even if Tenzin was unwilling to bring his head from the book. "Your wife?"

"You think I'm not strong enough to stop someone? You don't think I can protect my family?" Tenzin responded with the fiercest of grimaces, slamming his book shut. There wouldn't be any more reading tonight.

Lin bristled, fists clenching beneath the table. "I don't see why you'd ever take the risk. You have a new born baby. Your wife can't bend. Just get off that stupid island and accept my protection. Your pride isn't worth it."

Tenzin stood up, his chair screeching. It echoed around the tiny room and Lin felt the temperature beginning to the rise once more. "I can look after myself, my heritage, and my family. You stick to doing your job and I'll do mine."

He tried to storm out of the room, but Lin had sent her metal chain flying and it wrapped around his wrist easily. A breeze filled the room and the bottom of Tenzin's robes began to ruffle. It almost blew the clips out of Lin's hair. "Tenzin. You're being a fool. Please just get off the island." The hint of desperation was barely noticeable in Lin's voice, but of course Tenzin recognised it.

His face softened, ever so slightly, but he still shook his head. "I won't, I'm sorry. I have to protect that island, just as much as I have to protect everything else. I appreciate your concern, but I'll be perfectly fine."

Lin's chain softened and Tenzin slipped away, closing the door softly behind him.

Lin slumped back into her chair with a heavy heart. Admitting that she cared enough to want him safe hadn't been worth it at all. It wasn't that Tenzin didn't already know – she'd thrown herself of his stupid sky bison, for goodness sake – but admitting it seemed almost shameful.

Still, Tenzin had told her to do her job, so that's what she'd stick to. Finding the murderer before he had chance to target Tenzin again seemed like it was the only option.


	3. Chapter 3

_Chapter Three_

The man who burst through the door without knocking wasn't what Lin had expected at all. She'd thought being an expert on old Earth Kingdom tribes meant studious and calm, not overly confident and stylish. "Lao Ti, your requested expert." He stuck out a hand and Lin took it, already having to hold back a grimace.

It was his clothes that gave him away as someone who was going to get in her way. Standard enough in design, with tight trousers and a stitched, loose top with high-rise collar, the material screamed opulence. A light green embroidered with dark green designs that must have taken hours. Lin was unsure what to think of the whole thing. She'd understood he was working at the university, and hadn't assumed wealth at all.

"Thank you for coming at such short notice," she retook her seat behind her desk and handed over multiple documents, including the pictures of the murders. "You ever done something like this before?"

Lin didn't like dealing with novices and she was positive the man standing before her right now had never seen a dead body before. He stared with wide eyes, running a hand through floppy brown hair and her tired mind wasn't ready for that so early in the morning. She'd stayed up late into the night scouring books that turned out to be fruitless.

"I haven't done something like this before, but if you're only needing me for the information, I'll still be plenty useful."

Lin nodded once. "Well, good. I'm sure it'll work out fine, then."

Lao brought a chair opposite her desk and sat down gracefully, folding his arms and gazing with emerald green eyes. "Where did you want to start?"

She was finding it hard to place his age. His hair was a dark brown without any grey, but his face wasn't free of wrinkles. She hoped he was as knowledgeable as he claimed.

"With this scroll," she handed him the original clue. "Do you know anything about these people?"

The books she'd accessed had been fruitless. They focused on the royal and the opulent, not a small tribe who'd liked to tattoo with their earthbending. Lin had been forced to call the University of Ba Sing Se and request an expert, it was the only way she was going to get anywhere in this case.

"I know them. The beginnings of the Dai Li."

Lin blinked. How had she not figured that out? All the stories her mother had told her about the Dai Li and her struggles against them and nothing had even come to mind. "Really?"

"Sure," his fingers brushed against the scroll with light touches. "They're relatively unknown at this point, just a small group with their own ideas and customs. They don't get big until the royalty faces its first threat and that's still a century away."

Lin now had a completely new area to start researching, one that was going to give her lots of results. Mako and the rest of the team were going to be thrilled when she said they were going back into that stuffy room for the next few days.

"That's great," Lin had already stood up from her seat and picked a book off her own shelf. It was one her parents had bought her about the history of the Dai Li. Toph had always had a strong interest in the earthbending heritage. Lin retook her seat and began to flick. "Do you have anything else right now?" She passed over the photos without looking up from the pages of her book, but frowned slightly when Lao's fingers brushed against her own. "This is the victim."

She glanced up to check his expression and wasn't surprised by the near horror covering his face. He didn't put them back down, or request to take a break, though. He reigned in his expression, until there was only concentration. "It's similar. Likely just evolved in the way things do over time. I definitely thing we're looking at something Dai Li related."

Lin nodded once. "Thank you. It's good to feel like we're getting somewhere." Her head was back to being buried in the book and it would stay that way for most of the day. "You can go and check the archives for something relevant, if you want, or just make notes on relevant information you already know."

"I brought a few things with me, but I'll need to bring them from the apartment I'm staying in."

"You got an apartment rather than a hotel?" Lin queried without looking up. That seemed a bit extravagant. She was hoping this would take less than a few days and she'd given the man the police department's funding for his stay. She definitely hadn't okay'd setting him up for as long as a month.

Lao still hadn't put down the pictures of the victim, but he answered with a perfectly straight voice. "I figured that whilst I was in the city, I might stay a while. I used my own money, don't worry."

Lin resisted the urge to blush. She hadn't meant it to be that obvious what was on her mind. "Well then I hope you enjoy your stay. I can get officers to help you bring things into the station."

"Thank you."

She was wishing he'd just leave, now. Lin had a lead and she wanted to follow it until the bitter end in private, without having to deal with mindless conversation. Lao could go and write down what he knew and she could read it, in private, later and work things out. He was loitering.

"So, Lin, you've lived in the city your whole life?"

"No. I was in the Earth Kingdom when I was a baby and I've spent years at the South Pole and in the Air Temples." She was being pedantic and hoping it put him off. She'd spent ninety-five percent of her life in Republic City and couldn't even remember living in the Earth Kingdom.

Lao didn't react like she'd hoped. "But you know good places to see around the city?"

The most beautiful place in the city was Air Temple Island, but she was unwilling to admit it. "I can't say I do a lot of sight-seeing. Try the tourist information bureau." Lin wasn't even sure why he was asking her, did he really have no common sense?

Lao watched her with an almost blank expression. Was she serious, or was she just playing with him? There was no playfulness on her face, it was all concentration. Maybe she just hadn't really been taking in what he'd been saying. Straightening his jacket, Lao figured he'd be more obvious.

He was interested in Lin Beifong and it had only taken twenty minutes in her company to realise it.

"I was hoping we could get dinner together."

Lin blinked, looking up and frowning slightly at the man opposite her. Well, she definitely hadn't been expecting that. It was almost embarrassing how long it took her to come up with a decent excuse. "I'm sorry, I really have to stay at the station and get this research done. People's lives are on the line."

She hadn't even meant it to come out bitter, but Lao looked positively shut down and that had been the plan, really.

Lin sighed and returned to the pages. "Sorry." Lao seemed like a nice enough guy and he was attractive enough, but now definitely wasn't the time. Lin wouldn't know how to go on a date anymore, anyway. Saying no was the easy answer. "Now's just really not the time."

"It's okay, I understand. I'm going to be around for a while after the case, anyway," he managed a large grin that gave away a few wrinkles on his face. Maybe he was closer to Lin's age than she thought. Either way, he was probably too young. "So hopefully we can catch up at a later date."

Lin didn't even know if she was going to survive that long if the people she was fighting against were as organised as the Dai Li. She was going to be in the middle of the action with something like this and she was a high-priority target, more than likely.

Survival was never guaranteed.


	4. Chapter 4

**A new chapter! I've been wishing this fic was finished so I could reread it myself recently, which has spurred me on to get writing. I'm very excited for the Lin/Tenzin interactions that will be coming up in the next few chapters. I hope this one was okay! Just got to build up the tension before getting into the good stuff. Thank you to all the reviews! They mean a lot.**

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 ** _Chapter Four_**

It was a promising lead and one they'd stumbled on completely accidentally. Lin had been grabbing her final coffee of the day, dressed in something other than her uniform, for a change, when she'd caught the conversation of two earthbenders in the corner using her seismic sense.

"He wants us to meet at the hideout tonight. Nine o'clock. Don't tell anyone where you're going, obviously, just meet us at the vent behind Cabbage Corp's main warehouse. You know the rest."

The other man had nodded, an eager look on his face, and Lin hadn't know whether to be relieved or sick.

She'd been irritated at Tenzin when he came storming into her office an hour later. "You're going after a lead and you didn't think to tell me? I want to be involved in this investigation and I'm coming with you. Keep me updated from now on."

And he'd left before she could dispute it. She'd been planning to tell him with a cool demeanour that she'd expected he wanted to stay on the island to protect his family, considering how much he was endangering them already.

She didn't get the chance and that was probably for the best. It was none of her business, she kept trying to remind herself.

Either way, Lin, Tenzin and a handful of officers were now crowded around the vent behind Cabbage Corp, the metal benders using their seismic sense to try and hear anything whilst Tenzin tapped his foot impatiently, eyes scanning the area.

"I can't hear anything," Lin denied, checking with her officers. She received multiple shakes of heads. "Well then, let's get going. Only one way to find out what's down there."

She bent the vent from the tube, trying to be as quiet as possible, but knowing if the earthbenders were any good they'd have heard it. Working against good earthbenders was almost impossible. You could hear them and they could hear you, but if you were doing the chasing, you were at the disadvantage. She just had to hope they didn't have another way out, now.

Lin went first, naturally, vaulting over the metal dish and finding some poorly crafted steps. Switching on the flashlight, she was pleased to see Tenzin was perfectly in the middle of her officers. The safest position by far.

It was eerily silent, even their footsteps quiet against the mud steps as they disappeared into the dark tunnel. Lin had never been a fan of small spaces, even if she was trapped in by her element, but she'd been Chief of Police long enough to have learnt to deal with it. She took a deep breath and continued onwards, her seismic sense on full alert.

There was only silence, though, and it told her something was off. She'd heard that there was going to be a meeting here. They'd shown up at the tunnel ten minutes after it was supposed to be starting, hoping they wouldn't run into any stragglers, but everything was far too silent to be real.

She sent a look back over her shoulder to Tenzin and found he was already looking at her. The silent communication to be doubly on guard made Lin feel slightly more relaxed and she shone her flashlight onto the ceiling to see if there were any clues.

There weren't. It was just a quickly constructed tunnel made by earthbenders who didn't have time for precision. It didn't really correlate with the ancient tattooing technique she'd found.

Lin was relieved when the narrow staircase opened up into a large cavern. Most of it was natural, she realised, as she shone her torch around the room. They'd simply made it bigger, as proven by the small piles of rubble that were obviously hand made. "Split up and see if you can see anything of interest."

She couldn't hear anything, with her ears or her feet, but her guard was raised another level as she strode off towards the other end of the underground cave. There had to be something hear that could help them.

Spotting a pile of papers in the corner, Lin made her way over. They were receipts, she could tell as she got closer, but just as Lin bent down to pick one up, a rock colliding with her back pushed her to the ground.

Lin was back on her feet in a second, but her torch had been smashed and the corner she was stood in plunged into darkness. She watched, in horror, as bodies fell from the ceiling around the areas still lit. They'd been behind wooden bars that hadn't been visible from the floor in the large cavern, but now earthbender after earthbender descended from the ceilings and the ambush had begun.

Their goals were to knock out the torches and Lin didn't get to see anything more than some Dai Li resembling uniforms before darkness reigned supreme in the cavern.

She wasn't blind and neither were any of her officers. They had their seismic sense and so when footsteps rushed towards Lin, she was ready, taking her stance and firing rocks towards the approaching person.

Tenzin was blind.

And it made him an easy target for the benders ambushing them. Lin knew where Tenzin was, of course; light on his feet and swirling as he stuck to sending air in every direction. They were footsteps that had been familiar since her youngest years.

It wasn't a difficult decision to make her way towards him. The bender chased her, but she didn't care. Dodging his attacks were second nature, even if she couldn't see them. She'd learnt to earthbend from Toph Beifong – judging where the earth was coming from the movement of feet wasn't remotely difficult.

But when a second attacker joined the cause of taking down the chief of police, things became more difficult. She could manage it, barely, to dodge the attacks and fire her rocks back whilst slowly making her way towards the airbender.

Lin needed to get the lights back on somehow, but there weren't any firebenders and the torches were dead.

There was no choice but to take them out in the dark, before someone got a real hit on the airbender she was still trying to get close to.

A rock hit her on the back of the thighs and there was a slight grunt of pain from her lips, but she was close enough to Tenzin to be filled with adrenaline, so it didn't matter. The wind was practically pounding at Lin's body now and the clips at the back of her hair struggled to keep it in place.

She was in prime position to keep both herself and Tenzin safe, even if she was now facing four opponents rather than two.

Lin could take them.

Two were focused on Tenzin and so when she aimed a spiked piece of wood towards one's head, he hadn't even been paying attention to her. His footsteps died quickly, with a pained scream that Lin tried her best to ignore. She wasn't normally one for brutality, but in this environment she needed to be cutthroat. It was 2 versus 4 and she wasn't about to risk either of their lives.

The only difference, now Lin was in the centre of the battle, was that it took special concentration to differentiate her own officers from the footsteps of the ambushers.

It was obviously something these Dai Li officers had been practising in great detail leading up to this event.

Lin, however, had to narrow down whose feet were attacking her and whose were those of her agents.

For now, she stuck to the three remaining assaulters and dodged their projectiles with constant awareness of any which would hit Tenzin. He continued to buffet the entire area around him with air, but he must have been getting tired from the constant bending. Keeping that up for such a long time was draining.

Lin took out the next two attackers easily too, now that she was stationary beside her old friend. Following the movement of their feet and predicting the best place to aim her sharp-edged rocks was easy.

Only, the third man had slipped her attention. It was because the projectile wasn't aimed at her – his feet had created the perfect movement to send a rock straight towards Tenzin's head.

And his airbending wasn't going to stop something moving at this speed – it would barely even slow it down.

It was all Lin could do to propel herself towards the no doubt sharp rock that would impale Tenzin's throat. The thought to earthbend herself some protection came second to the instinct to take the bullet for him and so the thin, flat sheet of rock that broke the impact didn't do enough. It shattered and the rock smashed right into her forehead.

It hadn't been sharp, it had just been big and powerful and Lin collapsed to the ground with a weak groan. She barely had enough consciousness to drag her foot across the ground and kick forward, sweeping the man who'd done all the damage from his feet and secure his arms.

At the faint cry of Tenzin's voice, Lin faded to black.

* * *

The blaring hospital lights weren't an uncommon sight for Lin to wake up to. She squinted and attempted to move, the pounding in her forehead so painful she just wanted to be knocked out again.

But she was nothing if not persistent and worked through the pain to reach a sitting position. Halfway through her manoeuvring, she realised there was a cold hand clutching her own almost painfully tight.

Tenzin was sleeping, but his grip strong even as the rest of his body relaxed. Lin just sat and stared for a moment, trying not to revel in the feel of his protective hand.

He'd been scared shitless, that much was obvious. She was sure her injury wasn't that bad.

With an almost guilty conscience, Lin decided to lie back down and accept that it was better for her headache this way. Her thumb brushed against Tenzin's knuckles, noting that they were more scarred than the last time she held his hand. It had been a long time and the equalists had taken a lot out of both of them.

His face looked like it desperately wanted to scowl, but sleep had turned it into more of a pout and Lin smiled. She'd always thought Tenzin was adorable when he slept; she'd have traced those lips with the tips of her fingers in a different time. And he didn't have a scratch on him, so she'd succeeded in her goal.

The calm atmosphere where Lin allowed herself to just observe her former lover didn't last long. Tenzin stretched with his free hand, maintaining his hold on Lin until he'd become properly conscious, when he snatched it free with pink cheeks. "What were you thinking?" He demanded straight away, correcting his posture and taking in the woman laid in her hospital bed. There was no point in addressing the fact Lin hadn't pulled her hand away when she woke up. "You almost died."

"I'm sure you're exaggerating. I have a bit of a headache, whereas you really would have been dead," Lin attempted to drag herself into a sitting position once more, but Tenzin's hand was forceful on her shoulder, keeping her down. She narrowed her eyes at him, but there was no lenience from Tenzin and eventually Lin gave up.

"You could have died," Tenzin reiterated. "Two inches to the right and you'd have been dead."

"I don't understand why it matters. I'm here and we're both fine. What about the rest of my officers?" It was always easier to drag the conversation back to something more professional. And Lin needed to know that the people whose lives she'd risked were okay.

Tenzin's scowl lifted the tiniest bit. "They're all fine. They can handle themselves perfectly well in the dark. I'm not sure how many of them we killed or knocked out, we went in full retreat mode when you went down."

The curt nod Lin gave caused her to give a low groan in pain and Tenzin's eyes narrowed. She rolled her own. He was being an idiot. She was used to concern from Tenzin when she got injured, even during the more strained parts of their relationship, but this anger was new. She didn't have the energy to wonder what had put him into such a temper right now. "Good."

"And I brought you a present," Tenzin retrieved a piece of paper from his robes and handed it to the bed-ridden woman. "I managed to get it before they dropped down."

Lin took it eagerly, recognising an invoice similar to the one she'd been eyeing before their ambush. It was to a tailor, of all places, but this was something she could definitely work with. "Thank you. I can get on this tomorrow."

Lin received another stern look from the man stationed diligently at her bedside. "You might not be out by tomorrow. _You almost died_." He repeated for what Lin hoped was the final time.

"The healers do their work perfectly well," Lin dismissed, still doing her best to ignore the throbbing pain in her head. She hoped they hadn't already done their best. Nobody's bending matched up to Katara's – she'd been in for a shock the first injury that happened away from Tenzin's mother. "I'll be back on my feet by the morning."

Tenzin opened his mouth, but shut it again with a tightly knitted brow. "Just listen to your doctors," he settled on, standing up and then dithering by her bedside. The anger was still rolling off him and Lin wasn't sure she wanted to hear what he was so clearly struggling to say. "Thank you. For saving my life." Part of her wanted him to stay, even if it was in this foul mood.

"It's my job," Lin spoke automatically, cringing against the harsh words that left her mouth. "I mean," she cleared her throat with a slight blush. "Not that it's my job. I'm glad you're okay."

Tenzin didn't smile and Lin didn't know if it was because what she'd said had hurt him, or because he was still so moody that nothing could have brought a smile to his downturned lips.


	5. Chapter 5

_So this is the best chapter so far! I absolutely loved writing the full-on Lin/Tenzin dialogue and reactions. I hope I managed to capture them in a somewhat believable manner and that this was enjoyable! Do tell me what you thought!_

* * *

 _Chapter Five_

Lin's fingers brushed against the ancient stone with aching familiarity. She had chosen to move onto the island with a larger number of officers after the ambush; Tenzin was as stubborn as ever, but Lin wasn't going to sit in her own cosy home whilst there were a group of murderers on the loose. The realisation this wasn't a sole criminal raised the danger level tenfold and so she'd decided this was the only option.

And she hated it.

She'd moved in today, into a guest room as far away from Tenzin's as possible. It was completely bare, without decoration and even without a wardrobe. Lin didn't have a lot of clothes and living out of a suitcase didn't faze her. She welcomed the impersonal touch of the room. There wasn't a single thing to reminisce about in there.

The temple she currently meandered around was a different matter altogether. There were so many memories in this place, sad ones, happy ones, some not altogether chaste ones. Lin was forced to blink away memories of their late night meetings in the temple, her back pressed against the rough walls as Tenzin breathed curses into her ear.

Shaking her head and dropping her hand, Lin just wanted to sleep. Of all the places it could have chosen to evade her, this was the worst. Walking around the silent island didn't do anything for her mood.

She just wanted to do her job.

Most of her officers were staying in the Air Acolytes' quarters and therefore had a dining room of their own. When dinner had been served by Pema and Jinora they'd given her no extra attention and Lin was grateful. It was easier to pretend that this was a standard protection mission. She'd done similar things before. It wasn't personal, just her job.

The mantra wasn't being very effective as Lin considered entering the temple to see if it was unchanged inside, too. However, her head now filled with steamy images of her married ex-lover, it was probably time to retire.

Lin turned back to the house in time to see Tenzin approaching, his shoulders hunched against the cold air. Lin had been too distracted to even realise the icy air was buffeting her body. "Everything's the same," she mused, folding her arms defensively as Tenzin reached her. "I expected things to be different out here," she swallowed. "I kind of hoped they would be."

Turning her back on the tired looking man, Lin continued her walk around the small temple situated on the highest point of the island. The red brick seemed to taunt her. At one point she saw this building almost every day.

"It's my heritage. It doesn't change." Although Tenzin sounded almost guilty as he followed in Lin's footsteps.

Lin made a noncommittal noise, stepping away from the temple to peer over the edge of the sheer cliffs and into the sea. She didn't want to know whether Tenzin was still angry at her for unknown reasons. It would be a pointless conversation if he was. The pair always had some kind of anger between them. "I know."

The first time she'd jumped from this point had been one of the most exhilarating moments of her life. Tenzin had almost begged her not to do it, but when she peered up at him from the water, he'd been grinning like mad. He'd joined her in the water moments after with a congratulatory kiss.

Lin hung her head and snapped herself out of it. "I guess I should go to sleep. There's lots of stuff to be done tomorrow."

"How's your head?" Tenzin prevented her from leaving, though neither had really looked at each other since Tenzin had joined Lin on the peak.

"It's fine." Which it was. There was a bruise that hurt when she touched it, but otherwise the healers had done their job just fine.

"Good."

A particularly strong gust almost toppled Lin over and a familiar sound reached her ears. The urge was far too much for her to resist. "Hey airhead," she turned around and met his gaze for the first time. Tenzin raised his eyebrows at the nickname, but waited for her to continue. "Can I borrow your bending?"

Tenzin's eyebrows quirked higher, but Lin had already assumed he'd indulge her and began striding down the hillside towards the old training apparatus that she hadn't used for nearly twenty years. During the early stages of their relationship, Lin had perfected the airbending technique required to slip in and out of the fast rotating boards young airbenders used.

It was far too tempting to try out her skill so many years later.

"Really?" Tenzin inquired, looking at the antique training device. Any hardness that might have been in his face was completely evaporated. There was a giddy energy between the pair as they became lost in happy memories.

"Really!" Lin clasped her hands together and waited for Tenzin to oblige to her request.

He took his stance, powerful legs shoulder length apart, and summoned the gust to do his bidding. The boards flapped wildly and Lin took her own stance, nerves pooling in her stomach. It had been so many years that she didn't really know whether she could do this anymore. If she failed then it would be horribly embarrassing.

But Lin had never been a coward. She slipped in between the boards with a clear mind, her feet whispering over the hard wooden floor as they weaved between the fast moving objects. She wasn't a natural at this kind of thing, but Tenzin had been patient and she'd been stubborn that she was going to master it.

The air dislodged the clips keeping her hair in her normal style and when Lin emerged on the other side she looked and felt twenty years younger. Laughing lightly and with her hair brushing against her shoulders, she beamed at Tenzin. "I knew I could still do it."

Tenzin grinned back, enamoured by her appearance even more than normal. "I never doubted you."

They simply basked in their memories for a moment, Lin for once not allowing the bad seep in. It might have all been ruined, but she'd been happy at one point and she was happy right now, remembering that.

Tenzin cleared his throat and rubbed his bald head with the palm of his hand. "I'm sorry."

"What for?" Lin's lips were still quirked upwards. For once she was just running with the joy of the moment. She didn't need an apology and serious talk to ruin that.

"For being angry at the hospital. I was angry at myself, not you." Tenzin looked like this was the last conversation he wanted to be having as well, yet he persevered. "Ever since what happened with the equalists and your bending, I just, I couldn't deal with you sacrificing yourself for me _again_." He sighed and began to pace. It was never a good sign.

Lin sighed herself, crossing her arms and watching the agitated airbender with knitted eyebrows. "Tenzin it's fine. I understand." He didn't want other people to be hurt because of him, he'd never wanted that, but Lin was a grown woman and she was perfectly capable of making her own decisions. Besides, Oogi hadn't just been for him. He had a family. It was her or all of them, of course she was going to sacrifice herself.

"No, you don't," he stopped and took one step towards her. The air was warm and Lin wondered whether Tenzin had learnt a new trick. She was sure he'd never been able to affect the temperature before. "If you got hurt… when you _did_ get hurt protecting me, I can't forgive myself when that happens."

Lin returned to her own pacing. She couldn't meet Tenzin's gaze when he stared at her with that vulnerable honesty. She had too much experience with that expression. It had been a rare occurrence that he'd come to her with doubts, but she'd always kissed his bald head and found ways to take his mind off the issue. What she needed to do now was get as far away from him as possible – it wasn't a new trick for Tenzin to set her skin on fire just by looking at her.

Now on a circular path around the training apparatus she'd just been using, Lin couldn't even look over her shoulder as they spoke. "I can make my own decisions. You'd do the same for me. When we're in a dangerous situation, one of us is bound to be caught. You just have to accept that."

"I can't accept it. It should be me getting hurt."

Lin grimaced, though Tenzin couldn't see the expression from where he trailed behind her. "You're talking garbage, Tenzin. I threw myself off the Bison because Amon couldn't be allowed to capture your family. There are thousands upon thousands of earthbenders. I took the blow in the cave because it would have killed you and it only gave me a bruise. Don't make me out to be some kind of hero. You don't owe anything to me."

"I knew you didn't understand," Tenzin grumbled, before reaching out and grasping Lin's shoulder. She wasn't wearing her uniform, so the hand was red hot and forceful through the raggedy jumper covering her upper body. Lin stood to face him and blinked at the anguish covering his face.

"Tenzin-" She hated seeing him sad. Even just after their break-up, when she so desperately wanted him to be hurting, it still tugged at something to see his bright eyes shining with sadness.

"I came back for you," his rant began and his hand was almost painful as it dug into Lin's shoulder. "I left my family to come and try and save you. They were captured because I couldn't see you hurt, Lin."

Lin stared, blood rushing through her body. "You're an idiot," she murmured, desire having spread like wildfire through her body. "You're a fucking idiot."

His kiss wasn't gentle. Lin and Tenzin had never been gentle. He took her into his arms with unbridled passion, the other hand weaving through her hair in a frantic attempt to be as close as possible.

Lin was ashamed to say that her reaction was just as desperate. She stepped into Tenzin's arms without hesitation, lost in the familiar feel of his lips after all these years. Her body was on fire as Tenzin's fingers teased the small of her back. Her hands were fists in his robes. She'd always hated them at times like these – it was impossible to find his skin.

Which of them realised they were making a horrible mistake first Lin wasn't sure. Her mind had two paths – let Tenzin take her hard and fast against the temple like old times, or remember that he was married and that their relationship had been over for nearly two decades now. Maybe it was Tenzin who pulled away first, his eyes shining with self-loathing at what he'd done. It should have been Tenzin. He was the married one.

Lin turned her back on the airbender the second their kiss ended, wrapping her arms around herself and trying desperately to calm her thundering heart. Tenzin's was beating even faster and when she felt him take a step forward, Lin just wanted to run away. "Don't, Tenzin," she warned, hating the way her voice cracked.

It had been cruel of him, to put her in this position.

"Lin, I don't-"

She took a deep breath and gave him the coldest look she could muster. He wasn't going to believe her stormy expression, but he definitely wasn't going to get to see any tears from her either. Not this time. "I don't want to hear it. Go back to your room, cuddle your wife, and please don't speak to me more than you absolutely have to from this point onwards. I'm here to do my job, and that's all."

She strode away from him without turning back, a handful of tears finally escaping from the corner of her eyes. Tenzin was married. He'd chosen to leave her, for plenty of perfectly valid reasons. He couldn't toy with her like this now. It wasn't fair.

Lin monitored Tenzin's heartbeat for as long as her seismic sense could register it. He didn't move in that time and his heart's pace didn't slow down.

She heard the tears that he shed for betraying his wife and shook her head for being such a fool.


	6. Chapter 6

**_Damn! Sorry for the long update on this one. I've been super stressed with uni later and it's definitely disrupted my writing. Hopefully I can get back to updating this regularly. I can never leave Lin and Tenzin alone for too long._**

* * *

 _Chapter Six_

Lin had no idea why Tenzin had insisted on coming along on this trip. It wasn't even a big deal. Lin was going to the tailor's on the invoice Tenzin had gifted her. It was a fact-finding mission, nothing more. She'd just wanted to get off the island.

There was absolutely no need for him to be here.

If anything, it was making things worse. How was she supposed to focus when Tenzin was standing within ten metres of her? After what had happened two nights ago, Lin was a turmoil of emotions twenty-four seven. Actually being in proximity to the source of her issues wasn't helping one bit.

She clenched her hands into fists and marched on, determined not to let the airbender sway her concentration.

But she could still feel his lips on her skin, drawing her in and making her feel alive in a way that hadn't happened for twenty years. All that time spent pining after the married man and he was just as good as she remembered. Maybe even better. The desperation after being apart from so long had awakened something primal in them while they'd been kissing.

Of course, it hadn't gotten past kissing, and Lin was grateful for that. She really was.

All this had done was reignite a fire she wished had gone out when Tenzin ditched her all that time ago. She'd been so angry that he could move on perfectly fine and she still pined after him like always.

She'd never moved on. She'd tried desperately, dating strings of random guys and hoping maybe one would be a good replacement, but it never worked. She'd managed to push thoughts of Tenzin to the back of her mind for the most part, but now they were back with a vengeance.

Lin's scowl intensified.

They'd be done with this stupid murder case soon enough and things could return to normal, all things being well. She just wanted to go home, have a lot to drink, and try to move on for a second time.

"How much longer?" Tenzin asked, wrapping his robes tighter around himself and cursing the last second decision to come on this outing. He'd thought it was the right thing – after all that had happened, he couldn't bring himself to risk Lin's safety anymore. Her expression wasn't inspiring any confidence in that decision, though.

"Too long," Lin muttered, hoping the tension wasn't too obvious to the other officer she'd brought along with her. The others had stayed on the island. Tenzin was being ridiculous to leave his family alone there. Even in the daytime the island was so isolated that no one would be able to help them in time. There wouldn't be anyone to witness the murders and give evidence after the fact.

She hadn't bothered to mention this. Tenzin wasn't an idiot. He'd thought it through and he wasn't going to listen to her. Lin decided that speaking to him as little as possible was the easier solution.

Tenzin, knowing that he wasn't going to get a conversation from Lin, turned his attention to her officer instead. "How are you finding the island?"

Lin tried to block them out. To ignore the familiar timbre of his voice, to stop comparing it to the desperate, throaty half-shout it had been the night he kissed her.

Instead, she looked to the sky and watched the swirling birds. As much as she'd always thought Air Temple Island was beautiful, she'd never cared for the coastline at Republic City.

The ports were industrial and dirty. They were slightly away from that here – she could hear the clanking of the metal in the distance as ships loaded and unloaded, but they weren't close enough to hear the men who worked them speaking.

They were in marshland here. A path winding its way through tufts of battered grass. She couldn't work out why it wasn't long and wild. There was nothing to restrain it. She couldn't imagine people came to the deserted coastline often. There was no beach, just sheer cliffs that fell sharply into the wide river.

Her distaste for her surroundings made it even harder for Lin to ignore Tenzin. Nothing could stop her skin prickling with heat. Resisting the urge to shake her head and let the pair who was chatting behind her know she was distressed, Lin ploughed onwards.

They were following up on the lead from the cavern today. It had taken forever for her to find the address to the tailors. She wasn't even sure it was a real business. Perhaps the invoice was another hoax, designed to make her step into a trap, but she had no choice but to fall for it.

It was another one of the long list of reasons she had for wanting Tenzin to stay on the Island.

The small wooden hut they approached was nothing out of the ordinary. A second sharp cliff-face had begun to rise on their other side and the hut was embedded into it, a rocky overhang looking dangerously like it could fall into the roof and crush the entire building at any moment.

Turning to the two men behind her, Lin reassembled her expression to a professional one. She spoke mostly to her officer. That was easier.

"This might be a trap," she warned. Her attention was glued to Tenzin, even though she was only watching him from the corner of her eye. He watched her intently, his face blank, but his eyes dancing with emotion.

Guilt was forefront and it was no surprise. She had no idea why he'd insisted on coming along today. Even going for a walk by himself would have been better if he just wanted to get off the Island as well.

"I'll go in first, you two can follow. Keep eyes behind you as well." There wasn't really anywhere to hide here, at least on the outside. Sheer cliff faces on both sides, one dropping into the river and the other towering above them.

Tenzin opened his mouth, presumably to argue, but Lin shot him a harsh glare and he hesitated before closing it again. She was the experienced one and she knew what she was looking for – it wasn't _always_ self-sacrifice on her mind when she went in first.

Even if it was a factor.

"Understood?" She double-checked with them both, shooting out her seismic sense as far as it would go. She couldn't feel anything, but she was less confident after their ambush. It was almost blinding, not being able to rely on something that had always been there for her. Lin resisted the urge to shift uncomfortably.

Both men gave a swift nod and Lin strode towards the building, refusing to pause before she lifted her hand to the door and knocked. It only seemed polite – this was supposedly a business after all and someone might really be living here.

She tried the knock again before getting impatient and turning the knob. It opened without resistance and the warning bells signalled. Cabins in the middle of nowhere weren't normally left unlocked for anyone who fancied it to just stroll in. Especially not one's that supposedly had businesses operating inside of them.

Lin peered inside before taking the first step. There was nothing obviously out of place. It looked like a normal small abode. A bed in the corner. Small stove along one wall. A door that presumably led to a toilet.

It was neat, though. Too neat. Even Lin didn't keep her house this tidy. There wasn't anything to suggest it was actually lived in, that the furniture wasn't just for show.

"Stay outside," Lin decided to warn the men, taking a step forward. "I'm certain this is a trap of some sort." Though she didn't know how. The building was tiny. She doubted there could be men hiding here, even if the floor was wooden and she couldn't use her seismic sense on it.

Tenzin made a disapproving noise. "I'm sure we'll have more chance of defeating a trap together," he decided, stepping inside with a defiant expression. Lin could only frown, but her officer ignored her instruction too, empowered by Tenzin's disobeying.

He was a bad influence on everyone, apparently.

"Fine, then split up and see if you can find anything useful. Be vigilant."

Only it was Lin that fell into their trap. She took two steps forward and the floor disappeared from under her.

She landed on her back, too caught off guard by the sudden fall to even attempt a crouch, and spluttered as the wind left her lungs. She'd fallen nearly eight feet and she was lucky something wasn't broken. Her head, which had only just recovered from being hit on the front, slammed into the wooden floor of this box and darkness danced around her vision.

When she felt someone land beside her, she forced her eyes open again. Tenzin was there, eyes frantic, as he assessed the damage. "Shit," he swore, helping her to her feet and looking around the dark cube. "Come on, I need to jump us out of here."

But he didn't get the chance. A wooden beam slammed across the gap she'd fallen into and plunged them into complete darkness.

Lin panicked for a split second, reaching out in the darkness and grabbing onto Tenzin's robes for support. She recovered moments later and soothed her breathing, head still pounding. "You shouldn't have jumped in after me," she muttered, falling silent when she heard more wood being moved. "Now we're both trapped."

"I thought I could get you out in time," Tenzin admitted, bringing his other hand up so he could hold both her shoulders. "Are you hurt?"

"I just banged my head and winded myself," she hacked out another cough, he breathing still struggling. "It's nothing major."

"Can you feel anything?"

"I'm blind," Lin admitted distastefully, resisting the urge to slam her foot into the ground distastefully. "There's nothing here for me to bend except my armour and my chain."

Tenzin's hands tightened on her arms. "I'm sure Tali can get us out," he tried to reassure.

Then they heard the water. It began flowing into the cube at an alarming rate, soaking into Tenzin's cloth shoes and lowering the temperature of Lin's feet within their metal coverings. "Shit." She swore this time, moving slightly closer to Tenzin automatically and still not releasing her hold on his robes. "They're filling us with water."

It was rising fast, too. Already up to their knees and they'd barely acknowledged it was happening. "I can create a bubble." Tenzin did so, extending it right down to their knees as the water already pushed at their thighs.

"What's Tali going to be able to do?" Lin wasn't panicking, not yet, but she could hear the water around them even if she could no longer feel it and her heart was pounding. "He's an earth bender and I have no idea how thick the wood covering us is."

Tenzin squeezed her upper arm even though she couldn't feel it underneath the metal, his breathing becoming more rapid. "He'll figure something out," he said it again, holding the bubble in place. It wasn't taking much effort, yet, but the longer they were in here, the harder it was going to be.

Lin could only think of one thing to do. She peeled off her armour with her bending, leaving her in just a vest and her underwear. Taking a step back from Tenzin, she bent the armour into a sharp piece of metal. "Are we directly under the trap door?" She checked, having no way to tell in the darkness.

Tenzin paused for a moment and she suspected he might have shrugged. "I'm not sure. I think so."

"It'll have to do." She sent the metal hurtling towards the ceiling. There was no way of knowing whether it had even made a dent in the wood. She repeated the process until her muscles hurt, until there was sweat beading on her forehead and she thought she wouldn't have minded having some of that icy water to cool off.

Tenzin had shown no signs of fatigue yet, but Lin estimated they'd been underwater about 15 minutes now and she felt sure he must be feeling it. Letting the metal slam to the floor beside her, she felt the desperation begin to rear its ugly head.

"Do you think we're going to die in here?" She wondered aloud, stepping back towards Tenzin and feeling out for his robes again.

He returned the gesture immediately, his hands curling around her back. Now out of the armour, Lin could feel his hands against her skin and she welcomed it. If she had to have something in her last moments, she would welcome the feel of Tenzin.

"I don't think we're going to die," he stated resolutely, not a waver in his voice. "We couldn't go out like this, trapped in a wooden hole. There's not enough action. We didn't get to take anyone down with us."

They'd always talked about going out in a blaze of glory. When they were kids, but especially when they grew up a bit and accepted their roles in Republic City.

Lin wanted to chuckle, but the sound didn't come. "I'm glad, if we do die, we don't do it hating each other," she muttered, giving up on restraint and laying her head against Tenzin's muscled chest. Tenzin's hand reached up and pulled the clips from her hair, running his fingers through it when it dropped free.

"I could never hate you, Lin. Never. I hope you never thought that." Tenzin's voice was choked as reality dawned on them.

This might really be the end. She could hear banging from above, but it wasn't close enough. Whatever Tali was doing, it wasn't going to be in time. Tenzin's body was shaking where she held him.

Lin stood straight once more, retrieving her metal from the floor and throwing it towards the roof of their cell with all her might. Again and again, until her body burned and it took all her effort just to lift the metal off the ground. There was still no light and Lin still couldn't tell whether she was even hitting the wood that covered the trapdoor.

"Stop," Tenzin instructed, his breathing laboured as the bubble covered only their faces now. Lin didn't listen. She threw the metal towards the ceiling with its sharp edge and prayed for a miracle. Tali's banging was still going and she couldn't give up until he had. " _Stop_ ," Tenzin repeated, grabbing her arms and causing the metal to fall through the water and back to the ground. "I can't hold it much longer and I want to kiss you before we go," he brought his hand up, feeling for her cheek.

Lin's chest constricted and she found that she could feel no guilt as she angled her body against his. These was their last moments. Anyone could be forgiven for what they did in their last moments. She raised her own hands to his robes, and tried to move her face to where she thought his was, but startling light from the top of the room stopped her. It was a single beam, but Tali filled it with Earth and shoved the, now two, wooden beams back to where they'd come from, leaving the trap door free and open.

Tenzin had wrapped his arms securely around Lin and gave an airbending powered jump into the cabin before she could even process that they were really saved. They landed, Lin on top of Tenzin, her knee falling dangerously close to his nether regions. His eyes were closed and his breathing was shallow.

Lin's heart clenched and she quickly got to her knees, leaning over Tenzin and finding tears in her eyes for the first time during this whole ordeal. "Tenzin," she shook his shoulders, put her hand under his nose to check that he was still breathing. His skin was so pallid she feared he'd gotten ill from being in the cold water and the intense fatigue from holding the bubble had done him in. Lin herself was shivering, but her bending hadn't put her under as much strain as Tenzin's. He'd been keeping them alive. "Tenzin," her voice caught on his name, a tear rolling down her face. "Tenzin please wake up."

A solid minute of Lin trying everything she could think of to rouse the airbender passed, and eventually his eyes fluttered open. He squinted against the light, raising his hand to his eyes until they adjusted. Then he stared at Lin. "We're alive?"

She grinned. A rare, free grin of absolute relief. Tenzin managed to sit himself up and then Lin wrapped her arms around him so tightly he feared she'd knock him unconscious once more. He returned her hold just as tight, eyes tight shut as they recovered from the fact they weren't dead after all.

They stayed like that until their bodies began to warm up and the realisation that they really needed to get out of the cabin dawned. Their touch, unlike the kiss they'd shared two nights ago, was nothing sexual. It was something far deeper than that. Two people who cared about each other so much, who had just been about to lose their lives together, accepting that there was more to come.

"We need to leave," Lin mumbled against Tenzin's neck, where her face was still buried. "The men must be under this hut to have accomplished this. We have to get out before they can take advantage of how pathetic we are right now."

Tenzin chuckled, his body rumbling against hers. "And I don't think you should really sit around in your underwear for much longer."

They pulled apart and Lin slapped his arm, her cheeks warms, but they both dissolved into laughter and Lin retrieved her mangled armour from the water tank. She bent it enough that it would pass for trousers, and finally turned to her officer. "Thank you, for saving our lives."

Tali was looking a bit overwhelmed by the situation. He nodded once. "No problem, chief."

The three of them exited the cabin in almost hysterical moods. Lin could still feel Tenzin's hands on her in that water, demanding that they kiss. That if he was going to die, he wanted to do it in her arms. It shouldn't have excited her as much as it did, of course – if his wife had been there, Lin doubted he would have been pawing after her. Still, it was touching. And, since they hadn't died, slightly awkward.

Tenzin was shivering against the cold, barely able to believe that he was alive. He'd always thought that he could accept the knowledge death was upon him more graciously than that. He was a meditator, he knew there could be life after death in the spirit world, and yet he'd clung to life as if it was the only thing he'd cared about.

He had so desperately wanted to live. For Lin to live.

Retrieving the bison whistle from his sodden robes, he called for Oogi. They had left him at the start of this coastal path, not wanting anyone to get near the sky bison, but they didn't have the energy to trek back to where the animal waited now. The bison appeared and the huddled travellers clambered aboard, grateful to be on their way home. Lin was in two minds. On the one hand she was desperate for a hot shower, to warm her back through and to get rid of the probably dirty water that had smothered her in the tank. On the other hand, part of her never wanted to go near another drop of water for as long as she lived.

Lin brought her knees to her chest and sat beside Tenzin, who was guiding the bison. "Is that the closest you've ever been to dying?" She asked. They'd both been in their fair share of perilous situations.

"Yes," Tenzin answered without hesitation. She noticed that his hands still shook where he held the reigns and Lin resisted the urge to reach out and hold them. "You?"

She shrugged. "I think that I've had a lot of things thrown at my head that were only a few centimetres off that probably count as being just as close. I've never had the build-up like that though. They were just split second things, it's easy to move past them. I spent a good ten minutes thinking I was definitely going to die down there."

Tenzin nodded, meeting her gaze. "I think you handled it better than I did."

The corner of her mouth lifted. "Maybe outwardly."

"I guess we can add almost dying to our long list of shared activities now, anyway."

Lin grinned, her survivor's high beginning to shine through. "I think I know what would be on the top of that list."

Tenzin chuckled, his cheeks tinting red. She'd always loved being able to make him blush. "No arguments from me on that one."

Lin leant back, letting the wind blow through her unclipped hair and the sun shine on her face. It was still freezing, and she knew she'd get very ill if she didn't get some warmth soon, but it was oddly refreshing. She only remembered Tali was there a few minutes later, when she reopened her eyes. She hoped he chalked up their odd behaviour to some kind of delirium.

They landed after a short ride, and Lin frowned when an officer was instantly running towards the sky bison. Her stomach sank. Something had happened.

Deciding that, now they were back on the Island, blanking Tenzin would be the best course of action, Lin slid off Oogi and met her officer half way. "What's wrong?" She demanded, trying to ignore that she was wearing a very see-through white vest. Luckily the bindings covering her breasts had remained opaque.

The officer's face was set in stone. "There's been another murder."


	7. Chapter 7

_Ahh, this chapter is one of my favs! Possibly my favourite thing I've ever written. The section where Lin is in the bar is great for me, I'd love to know what you guys think!_

* * *

 _Chapter Seven_

Lin was forced to make a fast and full recovery from the day's events as she strode alongside the officer towards the crime scene. "What happened out there today?" He asked her, eyeing her damp hair and mangled armour curiously.

"That's not important right now. Tell me what happened." Lin and Tenzin hadn't died from their predicament, but someone here had died because they weren't around. Lin shook her head and refused to accept that it might be Pema or one of the children.

"It's one of our officers," the man relayed, looking to Tenzin as he jogged towards them in his drenched robes, face solemn. "He was in the shower and someone got him from behind. There's another message."

Of course there was another message.

Lin sighed, bringing her hands to her forehead and mentally preparing herself for what she was about to see. Tenzin had lost one of his men first and now she was about to see one of hers lying dead on the floor.

She didn't hesitate when they got to the door and she strode in, grateful the photographer was already there and had presumably taken all the necessary photos. Lao Ti had arrived, too, and was stood in the corner with his gaze firmly away from the corpse. Her second-in-command stood with his arms crossed, waiting for her to arrive. His skin was pallid, but that was the only sign of discomfort he gave off.

She avoided the blood, which was pooled under the body, and stared down at the familiar man. He'd been new on the squad not too long ago. He had a family. Lin closed her eyes for a moment and turned to her second-in-command. "Have you informed his family?" He shook his head and Lin forced herself to breathe. "I'll do it."

She went back to examining the body. It was a stab wound to the back that was the cause of death this time, she assumed, unable to see any life-inflicting wounds on the man's front. The words, which had been tattooed into the naked man's chest in similar fashion, were inflicted post mortem this time, the doctor on scene informed her. Lin at least found some comfort in that. As an earthbender, the officer would have been able to fight back more effectively than the Air Acolyte.

 **They'll continue to drop.**

Tenzin stood beside Lin and they both read the words with disgust. They didn't look at each other, it wasn't necessary.

Turning on her heel, Lin stormed from the room and tried desperately not to lash out with her tired muscles. This was all so unfair. She had of course seen her officers die before, but it never got any easier. She might not be the fun-loving Chief of Police some of them would have liked, but she took her job seriously and she respected those who worked under her.

No one deserved to go like that.

"Lin," Tenzin called after her, jogging once more to catch up. "You need to get warmed up before you do anything. You'll get ill."

Lin didn't want him to keep talking sense at her. "I have to go and tell his family," she turned and faced Tenzin, keeping her face composed. They stood in the courtyard, once again buffeted by the high winds on the Island. "He has a wife and children." _Just like Tenzin did_. She needed to keep remembering that fact. "She deserves to find out from me."

"She won't appreciate it if you can't find the killer because you've been taken to hospital with a fever," Tenzin chastised, though his eyes were soft. Tenzin could read Lin like a book, no matter how stony her face was. He knew how she thought. "You need to take a few hours to calm down first."

Lin ran a hand through her damp hair and resisted the urge to pace. "I know. I do know that. I just," she threw her hands up. "I just don't know how to solve this one. We're running out of leads. Today was just another set up. I can't keep walking into traps like that whilst people get killed around me."

"You're doing everything you can," Tenzin assured her, his voice soft, but never bordering on patronising. "We'll find something and then you'll catch them. That's how it always works."

Of course it wasn't always how it worked. Lin's cold cases were a constant weight on her shoulders. Those people she'd let down. She couldn't live with herself if everyone on the Island lost their lives and she was the one who'd failed to prevent it.

"I guess," she conceded, no longer having the effort to argue. "You need to warm up, too. You're exhausted."

"I know. Follow me, I'll go and get us some blankets and then we can sit and read some books and hope it gets us somewhere."

Tenzin's offer was incredibly tempting and Lin accepted, even though she knew it was a bad idea. Since their kiss, they should have been avoiding each other altogether, even platonic interactions. But right now, she was more terrified than she was willing to admit and she knew having Tenzin's calming presence beside her would do her wonders.

Lin did need to be calm when she told her officer's family what had happened and that was a good enough excuse for her.

Tenzin guided Lin towards their laundry room and retrieved three thick blankets. He handed one to Lin and then directed them towards a room containing a desk and a coffee table with a sofa. "We can work here," he told her, dumping the blankets on the sofa. "I'm going to change out of these wet clothes, you should do the same. I'll find us some books. Meet you back here in a few minutes."

Lin couldn't help but feel glad that he'd not directly explained he was going to see his family, even if it was the truth. The fact he cared enough to spare her feelings meant something and she walked back to her room to change with a small smile. Tomorrow she would feel guilty and the self-loathing would return, but her survivor's high was still keeping her awake and she wanted to make the most of Tenzin's placid mood.

She knew he felt the elation of still being breathing as well, and wanted to share it with the person who had just gone through the same thing.

She slipped into something comfier, a pair of loose fitting pants a tank top. The blankets would keep her toasty and she didn't really own any jumpers.

Walking back to the room Tenzin had designated them, she tried to push the conversation with her dead officer's family to the back of her mind. They always went one of three ways. Some cried, some blamed her, some didn't say anything. Either way, Lin felt sure that they appreciated she'd come herself. It was right to do it that way. In a way, she had been responsible for their deaths. She had assigned them to that job, or admitted them into the force in the first place. She'd failed to foresee the events that had led to an officer's death this time, and she hated herself for it. Such a simple ruse and she'd fallen right into their hands.

The room was empty, but Lin wasn't surprised. Comforting his family would take longer than slipping into some new clothes. Lin wrapped a blanket securely around her shoulders and took a seat on the floor, her back leaning against the couch. She preferred to read this way. She could keep the book on the table without straining her back by leaning down from the sofa to read it.

When Tenzin returned, Lin was sat with her eyes closed, knees pulled up to her chest and her chin resting on them. Tenzin hovered for a moment to stare, before realising that Lin would know he was there.

His family had been overbearing, but he'd deflected their questions. He wasn't ready to talk about what had happened quite yet. Later, over dinner, maybe. He hadn't fully recovered yet.

He placed a stack of books on the coffee table. "These are the ones I could find," he explained, picking up the top one for himself and settling himself on the sofa. Tenzin preferred to read with a book in his lap. His leg settled beside Lin, the contact with her arm and shoulder reassuring. The automatic curve to Lin's mouth told him she'd noticed it.

Their actions born out of extreme emotion were heady and overbearing, whether angry or desirous. But they'd always had a subtle language, too. They could read each other's body language like no other. A simple touch could mean everything. And this simple touch, of Tenzin's leg to Lin's arm, meant that he was so relieved she was alive that he wasn't ready to let go of her just yet.

They sat and read in silence for approximately ten minutes before one of them broke. It was Tenzin who spoke first. "I'm going to leave the Island."

"Finally," Lin muttered, her already scant concentration on the book falling completely. She leant her head back against the sofa, resisting the urge to lean it against his knee.

"After Pema's birthday party. We'll go the day after."

Lin resisted the urge to snap at him. The fact they were staying in higher danger for a birthday party was none of her business, no matter how stupid she thought it was.

"I do know what you're thinking," he muttered. It was almost a smile in his voice. "And for the record I agree with you, but it was a vote and it's not just my Island anymore. Besides, who would try anything when there was half the city on the Island? There will be plenty of benders attending."

"It's not the actual party I'm worried about," although the threat of having so many people that anyone who wanted could blend into the shadows wasn't as reassuring as Tenzin had made it out to be, "it's the time before that."

"Well we haven't got any leads, so there'll be no reason to leave, will there?"

"I'm hoping that we'll find another lead, soon. If we keep coming up with dead-ends then I have no idea what we'll do." She didn't want to think about it, but she'd been on the back foot the entire investigation. They'd outsmarted her and it didn't happen often. She needed something that could steal back the thunder. Something that could put her in charge again.

"I hope so, too."

"And from now on, only one of us should leave the Island at a time. Everyone should stick in at least pairs when they're walking around. We don't want to take any more risks."

"We should be the pair that stick together. We're a good team and you know it. If either one of us had been stuck in that wooden box by ourselves we'd be dead."

It was a fair point and she knew it, but she still felt the need to argue it. "Yes, but we almost both died. There's no point having us both in the firing line. These traps seem to be designed for me, we should let me be the one to deal with them."

" _Lin_ ," Tenzin began, actually leaning forwards slightly with a stony grimace, was interrupted by Jinora's face peering around the door. "Hello, Jinora." Tenzin reigned himself in. "What's wrong?"

"Is it okay if I sit with you two?" She asked, bouncing onto the balls of her feet and back down again.

Tenzin hesitated and so Lin made the decision for him. She knew it was because of her that he didn't answer straight away. "Of course." Though she couldn't bring herself to move away from Tenzin's leg quite yet. She let Jinora take the seat behind her with crossed legs.

With Tenzin and Lin's conversation for the time being halted, they were both about to go back to their reading when Jinora spoke. "Why is someone doing this to us?"

"If I knew that, maybe I'd have a better chance of finding them," Lin admitted, pretending she was reading the book to avoid having to turn around and lose contact with Tenzin's leg.

"I don't know, either," Tenzin agreed. "I always thought I'd done a pretty good job at trying to keep things peaceful."

Lin couldn't stop her smile, remembering all the fights Tenzin had picked himself before he'd mastered meditation. He hadn't been the mellowest teenager. Tenzin nudged her with his knee and her smile grew into a grin. "I doubt any of the kids from school are holding a grudge," she remarked in response to their silent communication. "Although I wouldn't blame Brenna after how much you used to torture her."

Tenzin opened his mouth to argue, but he just chuckled. "I was never _that_ bad."

"You were cruel. You used to blow the braid that her mother did out of her hair every morning without fail."

"I was a _child_."

"You were a cruel child."

Tenzin huffed, trying to contain his grin. "If it turns out Brenna has held a grudge from the age of seven and now intends to murder everyone in my home, I'll accept full responsibility."

"I'm sure you were older than seven," Lin teased.

Jinora interrupted them and Lin finally felt too rude to keep the contact with Tenzin's leg. She turned around, keeping the blanket wrapped securely around her now the heat had returned, so she could face the pair. "What happened today? Why were you both all wet?"

Lin figured she would let Tenzin handle this one. She kept her legs bent and her feet on the floor, one foot pressing securely against Tenzin's. His lips twitched, but he didn't acknowledge it in any other way. "Lin and I got caught by a booby trap. We fell through a trap door and into a wooden box that was being filled with water. It just took us a while to get out again."

It was a very condensed version and Lin couldn't blame him for it. She didn't want to remember the cold water inching upwards, the acceptance when Tenzin's energy had finally been sapped up. His lifeless body on the cabin floor. Lin had really thought he might be gone.

"That sounds scary," Jinora muttered, breaking Lin away from where she'd been staring into space.

"It was," she agreed, the shiver returning to her body.

"Don't tell Meelo you thought so, he thinks you're a fearless superhero," Jinora chuckled.

Almost uncomfortable with the praise, Lin just smiled. She was far from fearless. Even sitting in the same room with Tenzin sent blades of fear through her. She'd coped last time, but could she handle losing him again? Because the time she'd spend on Air Temple Island had dragged her back to being hopelessly in love with him again. Nothing had changed – as soon as the case was over everything would return to how it had been before – and Lin didn't know whether she could go through it all again and still be okay.

Tenzin watched the frown flicker over her and face and his mirrored it. He knew what she was feeling, he just didn't know why.

Lin shot her gaze to the floor and resisted the urge to remove her foot from Tenzin's. She was the biggest fool on this stupid planet. "I have to go back to Republic City." She stood up and maintained a straight face. "I have to go and speak to the officer's family."

"Do you want me to come with you?" Tenzin immediately offered, getting ready to stand himself. Lin willed him back down with her eyes.

"I've never needed anyone to come with me before."

"You aren't going after having almost been killed yourself every other time."

"You'd be surprised."

"Lin-"

"Tenzin, I'll be fine." She managed a small that she hoped would quell his arguments. "Besides, you need to stay here. I thought I'd already made clear that going off the Island at the same time wasn't a good idea."

"I hadn't finished arguing that point with you yet."

"I'm going alone." That was final and they both knew it. "And there's no need to argue about it until we have another lead to follow. Tell Pema she doesn't need to save me any dinner. I'm going to eat in the city." She couldn't handle sitting around their table and playing happy families. Not tonight.

She slipped from the room and listened to Jinora asking Tenzin if he was really okay until her seismic sense didn't have the range to snoop anymore. Slipping into the spare uniform she had brought with her, Lin mentally prepared herself.

She had to take a boat into the city without Tenzin's company, which wasn't ideal, but the motor-powered boats at least didn't require any physical strength from Lin. She wasn't sure she could hold both her physical and mental self together at the same time.

The closer she got to the shore of Republic City, the worse she felt. She didn't know what Batar's family looked like. She'd never met his wife, never met his child. Had just heard him and the other men laughing about his poor attempt at an anniversary present. They'd been married two years.

Rubbing her hand against her forehead and hailing down a cab, Lin pulled herself together just like she did all the other times she'd had to make these visits. She oozed professionalism one hundred percent of the time and that helped the families. If she broke down too, it would be harder on everyone.

She walked up to the small house in the suburbs. It was a small, terraced. She could hear the baby crying from inside as she approached and steeled herself. Double-checking the piece of paper carrying Batar's address, she rapped her knuckles on the door.

There was a call of "one minute," from inside the house and Lin's stomach turned to ice. She needed to be stoic. Stoic and in control.

Batar's wife answered the door with the baby on her hip. She was beaming, but it quickly faded at seeing Lin in the doorway. As ever, she was the bearer of bad news. The officer's wife closed her eyes, her back rigid. "What's happened to him?"

"I'm so sorry I have to tell you this, but I'm afraid Batar was mortally wounded today during his service."

The woman choked on her words and for a moment Lin thought she was going to be sick. She wasn't. "He's dead?"

"I'm afraid so, yes."

The woman slammed the door and Lin didn't need her seismic sense to hear the sobs from inside the house. She walked back to the path, took a deep breath, and leant against the wall. She was out of sight of the house – Batar's wife wouldn't notice her, or think she was stalking her – but if she decided she needed the answers to her questions, then Lin would be here to give them.

Lin waited for half an hour, until her bones were chilled through and she was satisfied that the woman would go to the police station when she was ready to face what had happened to her husband.

With her face set in stone, but her insides shaking, Lin didn't think she could eat a scrap of food. Instead, she went to her favourite bar. Saying it was a favourite was probably pushing it a bit – Lin didn't make a habit of drinking alone often, at least not outside the comfort of her own home. However, when she did, it was to this place that she came to.

The bar stood close to the coast. It was made entirely of glass, and through that glass, Lin could see Air Temple Island. There was only one thing that regularly turned Lin to drinking, and she liked to torture herself when it did. She'd come, order fire whisky from the bar, and drink it whilst staring into the distance at what ailed her.

Today, it was a particularly violent sadness that overtook her. Her emotions were in turmoil and she really liked to think that it was somewhat down to her near-death experience. Tenzin could cause her hell, but she was stronger than this most of the time.

Then again, most of the time she and Tenzin hadn't shared a kiss. She hadn't spent this much time with her ex-lover in twenty years and being thrown back into his presence like this was torturing her. He'd kissed her. He'd _dared_ to kiss her and she hated him for it. He'd continue his perfect life as if it never happened, whilst she'd ruminate on it. Play it over in her mind over and over again. Relive the feeling of his hands grabbing at her as if she was the only thing in the world that mattered.

She loved him, and he'd drawn her back in again. She didn't know how she'd let herself be lured in. So starved of normal relationships, she'd gone running back into his arms as though she didn't have a scrap of self-respect left. Maybe she didn't.

Ordering another shot quickly, she downed the liquid, welcoming the fire burning at her throat.

She wouldn't cry for him, that she knew for certain. She refused to let herself stoop that low.

She'd gone twenty years without a relationship because no one had ever satisfied her the way Tenzin had. It was because she'd been impatient too, she knew. Upset that on the second date a man still couldn't pick up on her subtle cues like Tenzin could. Upset that a man didn't instantly understand her likes and dislikes the way Tenzin always instinctively had.

Her standards were too high.

She knew it, and yet she no longer had the drive to remedy it. It was a vicious circle of feeling lonely, but not having the willpower to go out there and do something about it.

What she should really do was accept Lao Ti's dinner offer and throw herself into committing to someone else. To really trying to accept that she could be with someone who wasn't Tenzin. That she didn't need someone to live up to her widely disproportionate expectations to be happy.

But she couldn't. She stared at the Island through dead eyes and wondered if he was curled up with his wife right now. Whether he felt guilty for having kissed her because of the trouble it had caused her, or whether he only felt bad for having betrayed the woman he was married to.

She hailed the bartender for another shot of whisky.

Lin was unreasonably sure that there wouldn't be another attack tonight, and if there was, then Tenzin could handle it. He was powerful – probably more powerful than her. She could take a night off after everything that had happened today.

Tenzin's face plagued her once more and she sighed, scrubbing at her eyes with the heel of her palms. From this point onwards, there would be no more sitting in blankets with subtle contact. Their conversations would be professional and that was it. There was no need for them to spend extra time together. It would go back to normal. Things would go back to how they were before.

Lin hoped the transition wouldn't be too rough.

After two more shots of the strong liquid, she began walking back towards her boat. She wasn't drunk, just pleasantly tipsy. If she'd veered towards the drunk end of the scale she might have ended up in floods of tears and she wasn't ready to deal with that.

So, she walked back to her boat on reasonably steady legs, her vision still perfectly intact. She would remember every ounce of her misery in the morning.

She would also remember her resolution to keep her distance from the airbender who haunted her thoughts. There wouldn't be any more compromise on the issue, she wouldn't let him bend her will because secretly she wanted his company more than anything else.

She had to keep to her promise, this time.

Lin approached the Island with her face set back in an emotionless mask. Her thoughts drifted to Batar's family. Lin had arranged for a social officer to go around to the house a couple of hours after she'd broken the news to make sure she was okay, but Lin knew the pain of losing people. She knew the woman would never truly be okay again.

Tethering her boat and trudging back towards the house, she once again loathed the fact that she was staying in the main house. She didn't want to have to walk past Tenzin and his family's possessions every day, faced with the memories of what had stood in those places when she'd been living in this space.

It was all too much sometimes.

She was too emotionally invested in this stupid Island. She'd spend some of the best years of her life here, and coming back in some of the worst just rubbed it in her face.

When she finally reached her room, her mood sour, she was greeted by Tenzin. He was sat at the desk she'd requested be brought in, flicking through the various notes on there. "You always were nosy," she muttered, standing in the doorway with her arms crossed and her grimace intact. "What are you doing in here?"

"I was waiting for you to get back. I thought we should talk about sleeping arrangements."

"Is there an issue with our current sleeping arrangements?"

"The officers suggested that maybe we should be sleeping at least in pairs, in case someone breaks in during the night time and the guards miss them." The guards alternated in shifts during the night. "I thought it was a good idea."

"So, who am I with?"

"That's what I wanted to discuss." He stood up, for the first time appearing awkward. She worked out pretty quickly what he was getting at, but she waited for him to say it, anyway. "I was hoping that you could stay with Jinora." He rambled on quickly. "Ikki, Meelo and Rohan can stay with Pema and I, but there isn't enough room for her as well and I wouldn't trust anyone else as much as you."

"I don't mind staying with her," Lin answered to save him inner conflict he seemed to be going through. Lin couldn't help but admire Jinora, no matter how much she was distasteful of the union that had brought her about. "I take it I'll be staying in her room." She wanted to get rid of Tenzin, too. Agreeing was always the easiest way to do that.

"Yes. I've set up a bed in there for you."

"Thank you."

Lin walked into the room to collect her things, mainly the suitcase that still held her clothes, and expected Tenzin to leave. He didn't. "How was the family?"

"How do you think?"

Tenzin rubbed a hand over his bald head. "Yes, I suppose so. Are you okay? Did you get something to eat?"

Her stomach rumbled on cue, but she ignored it. "I'm really not hungry."

"You can't not eat dinner."

"Yes, I can."

"You reek of fire whisky, you need something to eat with that."

Lin turned her glare on him. "What I _need_ , is for you to leave me alone and let me take care of myself. I have been doing it for twenty years without assistance."

It might have been too harsh, but it was necessary. Pushing him away was the only option. Keeping her heart shattered and never letting it rebuild had to be the only option.

"Lin-"

She stood, suitcase by her side, and let her tiredness show. Lin was deflated and Tenzin, as ever, knew it. "Tenzin, I just want to go to bed. You don't have to worry about me. I'll eat two breakfasts in the morning if that will pacify you. I'm tired."

"Lin, I'm sorry."

Lin ran a hand over her face. She knew better than to ask what for, especially after last time. She wasn't in the right state of mind for him to apologise for the kiss right now. "That's okay," she said instead. "Just show me where Jinora's room is and let me get some rest."

Her words had done the appropriate damage, she could see the guilt brewing in Tenzin's eyes, and now she wanted to rest.

"And I'm not drunk."

Tenzin's mouth lifted at the corner. "I know. I've only ever seen you drunk a handful of times and it was a damn sight messier than this."

She chuckled despite her desperate attempts not to, and hated herself for it. He carried her suitcase to Jinora's room despite her protests and pushed the door open. It was late, later than she'd realised, sat in that bar and watching the lights twinkle on the Island she used to call home.

Jinora was already in bed, sat reading a book in lamplight. She snapped the book shut when her door opened and smiled at her dad. They'd pushed a full-sized single bed into the room and Lin was grateful she wasn't sleeping on something makeshift. Her muscles burned with the exertion of her day. The haze that had settled on her mind from the whisky didn't help, either.

She excused herself to the bathroom to change into her pyjamas and clean her teeth and Tenzin perched himself on the edge of Jinora's bed. They chatted, but his mind was on Lin, removing her clothes on the other side of the wall. He couldn't stop himself, no matter how hard he tried.

Everything he'd kept buried for so long had resurfaced relentlessly and he spent every waking moment with that painful yearning.

When Lin returned, he just about managed not to stare at her exposed collar bone, or the top of her cleavage that was revealed in the tank top. Instead, he walked to kiss his daughter on the forehead and wished her a goodnight. Lin slipped into the bed and he waited for her to realise.

When she did, she barked out laughter. "You're an idiot," she stated, resolutely. "I can't believe you still have this thing."

Lin had sown the blanket for Tenzin when she was only thirteen. It had meant to be a special, handmade gift. It hadn't turned out that way. The air runes she's attempted to embroider had been wonky and the ends had begun to fray almost instantly.

"Of course I still have it," Tenzin looked mildly offended. "Anyway, I'll let you both get some sleep. You can keep the blanket, if you want."

Lin snorted. "It's atrocious, I don't want it. I made it for you, anyway. I'm sure it's rude to throw someone's gift back at them."

Tenzin grinned and turned the light off. "Thanks, Lin, for doing this."

Lin snuggled down in the bed, feeling unreasonably happy wrapped in the poor attempt at a blanket she had gifted him so many years ago. "Shut up, airhead."

Letting her limbs turn to deadweight as she sunk into the mattress, Lin sighed into her pillow. She heard Jinora settle down, too. "I'm sure I would have been fine on my own. I tried to tell dad."

"I'm not bothered about staying in your room, kid," Lin told her honestly. "It's warmer than that chilly room I've been staying in, anyway. Feel free to kick me if I snore."

Jinora laughed, but didn't respond. Lin fell to sleep almost instantly.


End file.
